


Sleepless Night

by KittyKax



Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: Daddy Issues, Dreams and Nightmares, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Late Night Conversations, Loving Marriage, Parenthood, Past Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-24
Updated: 2016-09-24
Packaged: 2018-08-17 03:09:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8128054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittyKax/pseuds/KittyKax
Summary: He knows the perfect father doesn’t exist, and he knows for a fact how not to be a father, but there’s no doubt he’s going to be second guessing himself for as long as this baby lives. What should he feed it? What games should they play? Are they developing correctly? How early is too early? But he's not going into this alone.





	

Elena woke up when she realized one side of the bed was empty. Her eyes fluttered open as she sat up and looked at her clock on the nightstand; 2:30 AM it read. She took a quick glance around the room before she got up and made her way downstairs, where she knew would be the cause of her cold bed. Sure enough when she walked through the archway into the living room she found her husband sitting in his usual spot on the sofa. The room was completely dark, save for the streetlights causing a glow to come from the sliding glass doors, but even in the dim of night she could see Nate sitting with his arms crossed and his head rested on the back of the sofa, not asleep, but in a more meditative state. 

She made a small noise to make her presence aware, causing him to jump and raise his head,

Their eyes met, “Hey,”

“Hey.” Elena nodded and crossed the room, sitting down and putting an arm around him. His skin felt clammy, like he had been in a cold sweat. “You want to talk about it?”

Nate made a small noise of discomfort, the indication that he _didn’t_ want to talk about it. This was nothing new though, he never liked to talk about his nightmares. Part of it was a pride thing, but mostly it was because the were too painful to recollect. Elena knew this, she had her share of night terrors herself, so she never pushed for him to share. Besides, she had been woken up to him sleep talking enough to know what they were about anyway. And although it broke her heart to see him like this, she didn’t need to play counselor, she needed to _just be there for him_. And if all that meant was sitting in silence holding onto his arm, then so be it.

He spoke, “You really should get your rest, I’ll be fine, go back to bed.”

But Elena wasn’t letting up, “You know I can’t sleep without my favorite pillow.”

Nate’s mouth curled up a little at the comment, but kept his head straight. These episodes usually didn’t have time limits, ranging from a few minutes to all nighters, and tonight felt like it was becoming the latter. Elena had been feeling extra tired lately, but she had no intention of going to sleep without making sure her husband was all right. After what felt like a while though, she could feel her eyelids getting heavy, so she rested her head on Nate’s shoulder, closing her eyes for just a second,

“…I dreamt about my father.”

But Elena became fully awake with the whisper of that statement. Nate’s family was still a sore spot that he didn’t like to address, even to her. Because of this, when they first got married Elena didn’t know a thing about his father, except that he abandoned his son at an orphanage at only five years of age. Then when Nate painfully mentioned what happened to his mother, Elena decided not to pry, for his sake. It was only when Sam came back into his life that Elena found out more details about what exactly their childhood was like. Mr. Morgan wasn’t exactly father of the year, and while Nate was thankfully young enough to not remember much, Sam remembered very clearly the nights of yelling, swearing, drinking, and of course, beating. Their mother was the main victim of the abuse though, and although she wanted to protect her boys, she could hardly protect herself. Eventually their mother became sick, and although the police ruled that as the reason for her suicide, both Sam and Nate knew exactly what really led to their mother taking her life, or rather, _who._

“What if I’m no good at this?”

Elena sat up and looked at her husband carefully.

“I mean…what the hell do I know about raising a kid?” Nate hunched over and ran a hand through his hair.

Now Elena could see what this was about, “Nate…”

“This person-this _small_ person is going to be depending on _me_ …to take care of them, to protect them, to show them the way…” he was shaking his head, “…I just don’t think I can do that.”

“Nate-“

“-What if I don’t know what to do? What if I screw up? Or I do something to make it-” 

“Nate. Look at me.” Elena said with a sharp tone that caused Nate to turn his head up towards her, she continued, “The fact that you’re feeling this way right now only proves that you’re going to be a _great_ dad.”

Nate made a small scoff and turned back.

“I’m serious.” Elena moved his closer so there was no space between them, “It’s okay to feel overwhelmed, this is all new for you so it only makes sense to not know what to expect.”

He didn’t budge.

“And…mistakes are going to be made, Nate. That’s just part of what parenting is. There’s going to be days where neither of us will know what to do, and it’s only inevitable that we’re going to screw up a few times.”

Silence.

Elena sighed, “But the most important thing,” Elena put her hand on Nate’s shoulders so she could physically move him sitting up and looking at her, “is you’re not going in this alone. We’ve always had each other’s backs, and this’ll be no different…we’ve dealt with crazier stuff.” 

This did cause Nate to smile a little in reassurance. He let Elena’s hands drop as he sat back up against the back of the couch, clasping his hand with hers.

“You really think I’m going to be a good dad?”

Elena gave a reassuring squeeze, “I know you will.” then looked down and smiled when she felt a small rubbing from the inside, “And someone else does too…”

They both smiled now, and as if they were reading each other’s minds they moved their hands together to rest right above Elena’s naval, where the baby was still moving about.

“What are you doing up so late?” Nate whispered to the belly playfully, “It’s way past your bedtime.”

Elena laughed, “See you sound like a dad already.”

Now he was smiling for real, “Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

“No I mean…” Nate looked back up at Elena, “Thanks for making me a dad.”

Elena could feel her throat tightening, “Well thanks for making me a mom.”

Their lips touched softly, their hands not moving from their rested position. Nate was feeling better, but his mind was not settled. He knows the perfect father doesn’t exist, and he knows for a fact how _not_ to be a father, but there’s no doubt he’s going to be second guessing himself for as long as this baby lives. What should he feed it? What games should they play? Are they developing correctly? How early is too early?

There was something that was set in his mind though, and that was the promise of one thing his child will always have,

A father who loves them unconditionally.

**Author's Note:**

> I need to write more Nate/Elena pre-Cassie stuff because it really warms the cockles of my heart. :) 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and if there's any suggestions or prompts feel free to ask and I can do my best to fulfill them.
> 
> Shout out to my homies in the Uncharted Writing Party, otherwise I probably would have never gotten this done! 
> 
> Thanks again! 
> 
> ~KittyKax~


End file.
